On March 13, 2026, at the 13th Global Baku Forum held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, Eldor Alipov, the director of the Cross Regional Strategic Research Institute under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, delivered a remarkable speech. Facing politicians and scholars from various countries in the audience, he pointed out with great conviction that the relationship between China and Central Asian countries is undergoing a profound transformation. This transformation not only reshapes the bilateral cooperation pattern, but also promotes the upgrading of cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, and infrastructure, unleashing unprecedented potential for financial and economic cooperation.

A magnificent transformation from bilateral to diverse

Alipov revealed at the forum that China's cooperation with Central Asia has shifted from a single bilateral cooperation to institutionalized and diversified cooperation. He specifically mentioned that the form of cooperation between China and Central Asia has been established and has a permanent secretariat. The establishment of this mechanism marks a new stage of cooperation between the two parties, no longer a simple buying and selling relationship, but a deeply integrated strategic partnership.

Driven by the upgrading of mechanisms, the areas of cooperation between the two sides continue to expand, extending from traditional economic and trade exchanges to multiple dimensions such as infrastructure and security. This comprehensive cooperation model not only improves the efficiency of cooperation, but also brings more win-win opportunities for both parties.

The hardcore strength behind the billion dollar trade volume

Aripov revealed a set of key data in his speech: ten years ago, China had become the top investor in all Central Asian countries; Last year, the trade volume between China and Central Asia reached a historic high of 106 billion US dollars; Meanwhile, China's total investment in the region has reached 40 billion US dollars.

These data not only demonstrate the enormous scale of economic and trade cooperation between China and Central Asia, but also highlight the depth and breadth of cooperation between the two sides. The breakthrough growth in trade volume not only reflects the complementarity of the two economies, but also proves the strong vitality of the cooperation mechanism.

New opportunities for $3.7 billion in loans and grants

When talking about future cooperation, Alipov mentioned China's commitment to provide $3.7 billion in loans and grants to Central Asian countries at the previous summit. This measure not only reflects China's firm support for the development of Central Asia, but also opens up new space for future cooperation between the two sides.

Chinese enterprises are relying on this transformation opportunity to continuously increase their layout in Central Asia. Especially in key areas of cooperation such as infrastructure, with the support of loans and grants, Chinese enterprises are expanding the space for project implementation, promoting the two-way flow of technology and funds, further expanding overseas markets, and achieving mutual benefit and win-win results.

With the deep transformation of China Central Asia relations, the cooperation between the two sides is ushering in a golden period of high-quality development. Driven by multiple factors such as mechanism upgrades, data breakthroughs, and financial support, the prospects for cooperation between China and Central Asia are highly anticipated.Editor/Yang Meiling